Spain: Supreme Court demands DTT closures

The Supreme Court has urged the Spanish government to comply with its ruling to close down nine DTT channels with immediate effect reversing the extension granted by the government in May, which allowed the channels to continue broadcasting until 2014.

In its new ruling, the Court insists that the awarding of those channels in 2010 without a public tender was unlawful and orders the administration to proceed with the closure as soon as possible. Appeals from UTECA, the private TV Association, have been rejected.

The government has been delaying the decision in an attempt to negotiate with the broadcasters involved, although a decision was expected to be made this month, as the allocation of the so-called digital dividend must be completed before January 2014.

The affected TV broadcasters are Atresmedia, owner of Antena 3 and La Sexta, which should eliminate three DTT channels; Mediaset, owner of Tele 5 and Cuatro among others, which should eliminate two DTT channels; Net TV and Veo TV, which will have to eliminate two DTT channels each.